Different Types Of Dabs: Crash Course In Concentrates

What Are The Different Types Of Dabs?

When it comes to dabbing, there are a lot of questions you may have when first starting. What are dabs? Is there a difference between concentrates and flower? What are the different types of dabs? How is dabbing done? It is easy to become overwhelmed and simply choose to stick with the flower. No problem. But before you make a final decision, read on a little farther. What you learn about dabbing and concentrate as a whole may surprise you. Who knows? You might even learn something that makes you want to try dabbing yourself. If so, check out the many dab rigs available at Glass Nation!

What Are Dabs?

Simply put, a dab is a small amount of concentrate or extract (made from the same “flower” we all know and love). A “dabber” is a tool to get your dabs from where you store them to your dab rig. Don’t know what a dab rig is? No problem. I’ll go over that in just a little bit. Basically, a concentrate is what you get when you take a plant that has an active ingredient and isolate said active ingredient. The active ingredient in dabs is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). To use your concentrate, you’ll need a dab rig. A dab rig is a water pipe that has either a titanium or quartz attachment for a bowl. Heat the titanium or quartz attachment (nail) to an ideal vaporization temperature. Touch the dab directly to the heated titanium or quartz surface. Inhale. The vapor travels through the rig and into your lungs.

What Is The Difference Between Concentrates And Flower?

I’m so glad that you asked! There are many, many things that differ between flower and concentrate. Flower, as we all know, is what we get right off of the plant. You don’t have to work hard to enjoy the flower. Concentrate, on the other hand, requires a much more involved process to create. There are many different kinds of concentrates, and each one has it’s own unique extraction process. The main difference between concentrates and flower is potency. While the active ingredient in both flower and concentrates is the same (THC), concentrates do not have added plant material included. That means that, by weight, the potency of concentrates versus flower is as much as five times more. How much more potent depends on what kind of concentrates you are smoking.

Dabbing The Different Types Of Dabs

You cannot dab all forms of concentrates. You have to smoke some the old school way. First, there is hash. Hash is made up of THC particles. Those particles are collected by friction or by freezing the THC off of the flower with ice and water. You cannot dab hash as is. However, you can use very high-quality hash and apply heat to create “full melt” hash. You can dab full melt hash. Full melt is a solvent-less form of concentrates. Other forms of solvent-less concentrates include hash rosin, pollen rosin, and flower rosin. You make all forms of rosin in the same way. You place your raw material between two (low temp) heated pressure plates. The pressure plates smash together, and the THCA rich rosin comes pouring out. No purge time either! Solvent-less concentrates are ready to dab right away!

Butane Hash Oil

Shatter (possibly the most popular form of concentrates for dabbing). To make shatter, you have to use butane as a solvent. First, you shove the flower into a compact tube and bathed with super cold butane to freeze off the THC particles and then the excess butane pours out the bottom. After this point, you must either wait a few days or place your BHO concentrates into a vacuum chamber to purge as much of the remaining butane from the shatter as possible. A hard, brittle substance is what will remain. Hence the name “shatter”. Other forms of butane hash oil, or BHO, are Budder, Batter, Crumble, and Sauce. What starting material, equipment, and techniques are used during the extraction process will determine what form of BHO you end up with. However, all BHO uses butane as a primary solvent.

Solvent-Free Vs. Solvent-Less Concentrates

There are many different types of dabs. There is currently a heated debate raging in the stoner community. Specifically, those of us who are heavily into dabbing. People seem to have an inordinate amount of confusion regarding the difference between solvent-free and solvent-less concentrates. No chemical solvents are used when making solvent-less concentrates. Solvent-less concentrates are becoming more popular these days as people become more cautious about the things they ingest. There is a way to take concentrates made with solvents and remove all of the chemicals used in the extraction process. The distillate is the finished product. A vapor is created by slowly heating BHO (indirectly) over time. That vapor is then condensed (much like a liquor still) and cooled to produce distillate.

Yeah, I Came In With The Sauce

You may know it as diamonds or simply the best of the best. Suace is a BHO that has become wildly popular in the last year. If you are dabbing anything, you probably wish it was some sauce. I don’t blame you. The stuff is delicious. Here is how it’s made. First, you make live resin. Live resin is BHO that is made with fresh, frozen plant material instead of cured plant material. The live resin is left to age or cure after the BHO extraction. THCA begins to crystallize inside the live resin. The THCA “diamonds” settle to the bottom and the terpenes rise to the top. The THCA “diamonds” are what give it its potency. The terpenes are what give the sauce its unique flavor. You make sauce with hole frozen plants. Using the whole plant gives you a full spectrum of terpenes to taste while dabbing.

Now That You Know

Now that you know the different types of dabs, you can make an informed decision about whether or not you want to try them out for yourself. Just remember that concentrate is a lot stronger than flower. As is the case when using edibles, start with a little. You can always take more, but you can’t take less.

Sincerely, @sacramentodabber

-Bill Wallis

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